Personal mobile communication (PMC) devices such as smart phones and Internet tablet computers are becoming increasingly ubiquitous. One factor driving the popularity of these devices is the rapid growth of so-called “social networking” applications and systems. Advances in social networking technology have enabled members of society to establish and maintain increasingly intimate social relationships across long distances via the Internet.
Many PMC devices are designed to connect to the Internet wirelessly in order to support mobility. A PMC device may connect wirelessly via data links associated with a cell phone connection, a wide area networking connection such as an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 connection, and/or a local area networking connection such as an IEEE 802.11 connection, among others.
Additional information regarding the IEEE 802.11 standard may be found in ANSI/IEEE Std. 802.11, Information technology—Telecommunications and information exchange between systems—Local and metropolitan area networks—Specific requirements—Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications (published 1999; reaffirmed June 2003). Additional information regarding the IEEE 802.16 protocol standard may be found in IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks—Part 16: Air Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems (published Oct. 1, 2004).
In some cases, it may be desirable for two or more people within a local area to connect wirelessly and share data without traversing the Internet. People at a party or other gathering may, for example, wish to transfer pictures between PMC devices. The 802.11 specification supports such a connection in ad hoc mode. However, configuring a PMC device to operate in 802.11 ad hoc mode is cumbersome, rendering this technique inappropriate for impromptu data sharing. Other methods may utilize 802.11 infrastructure mode. However, an 802.11 infrastructure network is not always available on an impromptu basis when needed.